Steel City 15" planer (40260H) with Accu-Head spiral cutter

[greatscott]

Came across a 15" planer on Craigslist recently (Steel City 15" planer - model 40260H) that has a helical cutterhead on it.  I tried doing some research on the specific planer and I'm finding nothing online about it except that it's no longer made by Steel City and I am not sure how readily replacement parts are made for the planer.  I believe the helical cutterhead is made by Accu-Head, which I have not heard of before but at least there are some reviews out there on their cutterheads.

Does anyone have one of these planers that they can comment good or bad on?  I've been looking to upgrade to a 15" planer that has cast iron infeed and outfeed tables on it and this meets that criteria and it's nice that it has a spiral cutterhead on it, although I would prefer a Byrd helical over this style of spiral cutterhead.  Seller is asking $1,000 for the planer, not sure if that's a deal considering replacement parts might be hard to come buy.

Any input, either about the specific planer itself or the Accu-Head spiral cutter, would be appreciated.

[Huxleywood]

A couple of things. Steel City closed down about 18 months ago.  The planer is not a 15" planer but a 16", so "copies" are not made by the companies that tend to stock a lot of parts (Grizzly/Jet/Powermatic etc) so parts may be a real issue.  Laguna and Oliver do make a similar 16" planer but one would have to compare the parts diagram to have a guess if parts would interchange.  While I know Accu-Head made some of their smaller planer heads I am not sure if they made the larger ones, Shin Max/Accu-head is also out of business IIRC.  It is likely you can source the bits though from multiple sources but you would need the specs.

While I think it is an excellent price it honestly would be too much of a risk for me long term.

[cvillewood]

I think Jet sells the same 16" planer.

[greatscott]

Thanks for the input.  I'll probably pass on this one and keep looking for one that I know has replacement parts in the event something should go wrong with it.

[Huxleywood]

I think Jet sells the same 16" planer.

The Jet 16" planer is a motor over cutter design (which a lot of companies have made over the years) and is completely different in design and unlikely to share many if any parts with the SC.

[JIMB49]

seems to be a lot for a 10 year old machine does it work and what is the condition  the parts are the big issue that are in question